Wharton is expected to announce his CAO selection and some other key personnel decisions this week. Former City Councilman Jack Sammons was appointed CAO by then Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery and is still serving in that position.
The CAO, a crucial post responsible for running the city's day-to-day operations, may be the most important personnel decision Wharton makes.
Little was appointed state corrections commissioner by Gov. Phil Bredesen in 2005. A veteran corrections administrator, Little had served as Director of the Shelby County Division of Corrections before being tapped by Bredesen.
Little, whose academic history includes a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economic and Business Administration from Morehouse College in Atlanta, and graduate studies in Economics and Urban and Regional Development at the University of Texas, once served as an assistant to former Gov. Lamar Alexander in the Office of State Planning and steadily moved up within the corrections field.
Wharton's transition team has been busy evaluating city government, including important leadership positions at City Hall.
Transition team subcommittee headings include education and early childhood, workforce and economic development, diversity business development, government efficiency, neighborhood initiatives, public safety and finance .There also are subcommittees to study the city's legal and human resources divisions.
The 5:30 p.m. meeting will now take place at Breath of Life Christian Church, located at 3795 Frayser-Raleigh Rd.
Wharton, who has been working on a plan to control gun violence, is hosting the community meeting following several high-profile crimes in the area, including four youth slayings.
Wharton said that he is "taking City Hall over to Raleigh and Frayser" and that he wants to hear from the community. Citizens will be able to ask questions and if answers aren't available on the spot, Wharton promises a written response.
Wharton will also talk about his gun crime reduction plan, including creating a gun offender registry similar to the registry system used for sex offenders, creating a special court for gun crimes and stiffer penalties for people selling illegal guns, especially to youngsters.
Wharton said the gun court, like the already established Shelby County Drug Court, would bring a carrot and stick approach that offers juveniles a path to a productive life but still has the threat of jail time.
The Drug Court began in 1997 as an alternative 12-month intensive program for nonviolent adult drug offenders. Criminal charges are dismissed upon successful completion of the program.
"We need to come up with the same thing when it comes to violence," said Wharton.
Wharton likened gun violence to a public health threat, one that everybody in the community should be talking about and working to vanquish. If the community could mobilize to fight gun violence the way it fights deadly infectious diseases - with public service campaigns, education and a daily drum beat of warnings - Wharton believes the city can conquer the epidemic of gun violence.
"When there is a Hepatitis outbreak we bring everybody in and you see how powerful that is," said Wharton.
Republicans Mike Ritz and Wyatt Bunker both had an opportunity to block Joe Ford from becoming county mayor and send the process to a second round -- thus bringing forward outside candidates -- but they chose not to. Ritz said he had promised Ford he would support him through the first round, and that while he would have voted for Criminal Court Judge Otis Higgs or former City Councilman John Vergos, he ultimately preferred Ford over any candidates from outside the commission.
"I thought the best circumstance was to have a commissioner," Ritz said. "It's a huge unknown (to go outside). It's like a traveling salesman coming through, like when Sidney Shlenker came through here."
Ritz said he has full confidence in Ford to capably lead the county into a tough budget cycle.
"There are lots of problems but they've been there a long time," Ritz said.
Brooks said she switched her vote from Gibson to Ford because "I listened to my constituents," mentioning specifically the support from the "Baptist Ministerial Association" for Ford.
There was much talk before the vote was taken, between commissioners, about how the process had created a lot of "bad blood" and "hurt feelings." Kuhn said that "fence mending" would be required. Deidre Malone, a candidate in the 2010 mayoral election, talked about how a lot of "darts" had been thrown back and forth.
Ford, by the way, said on Monday that, "My last day of politics is August 31, 2010, and I won't ever seek office again."
]]>Ford will serve until after a new county mayor is selected by voters in the August county general election.
Two commissioners, Democrats Henri Brooks and James Harvey, changed their votes from commissioner J.W. Gibson II to Ford, with Harvey doing so in dramatic fashion.
"At this time I will end the cycle and cross the line and vote for Ford," Harvey said when the roll call vote got to him in the second round of voting.
That moved the drama to Republican commissioner Wyatt Bunker, who had supported Ford in voting last week but had voted for Avery in the first round. He went with Ford.
"We will hit the ground running," Ford said, and promised to form seven new task forces.
"I will lead this county and lead this county well."
]]>Criminal Court Clerk Otis Higgs is not part of this round, but it is unlikely that any of the three will get the votes required. The commissioners, including Chairman Sidney Chism, have made it clear they don't want to give Ford and Gibson more than one round.
]]>Higgs, 72, went through the long list of ways he has served the county and said, "I have a broad spectrum of experience in county government. ... I am intimately familiar with the inner workings of county government and have had the opportunity to live and breathe and love this county."
More from Higgs: "I am asking for your support not so much as an applicant. I don't come with a constituency or with a groundswell of votes. I don't come with a platform. I certainly don't come today with a list of consituency ready to serve. I come merely as a public servant ready now to ride into the sunset.
"I would love to go out riding a horse of success having served as county mayor. That would be my final venture."
]]>Chism said that after initial nominations of commissioners Joe Ford and J.W. Gibson, he will see if "Ford has the votes." If Ford nor Gibson has the seven votes, Chism said "we will go straight to Higgs."
Chism said it is his understanding that Higgs has the votes. Several people are here supporting Higgs, including former City Councilwoman and state legislator Carol Chumney and State Rep. G.A. Hardaway.
Hardaway tells The CA he believes that Higgs has the votes as well. Commissioner George Flinn is the only member who has not arrived and Mike Carpenter has asked for a delay until Flinn arrives.
Commissioner Mike Ritz has asked that Higgs be allowed to come forward and introduce himself from the podium.
]]>Chumney said "she's not at liberty" to say why she's here, but she did just put in a word with County Commissioner Mike Carpenter, supporting Otis Higgs. She also was talking to Wyatt Bunker earnestly.
Higgs, as Daniel Connolly just reported, has indeed filed an application to become a candidate. A story we ran earlier this year discussed the role Higgs has played in Memphis mayoral politics.
]]>So far, Higgs is the only new candidate to take the formal step of filling out an application for the appointment since the County Commission repeatedly deadlocked last week in votes between Joe Ford and J.W. Gibson II.
But there could be surprises at the special County Commission meeting that starts at 4 p.m.. Commissioners will try once again to fill the slot.
Other alternate candidates who've been mentioned for the interim mayor's role include Memphis Chief Administrative Officer Jack Sammons and former Memphis City Councilman John Vergos.
Commissioners are picking someone to fill the remaining term of A C Wharton, who left office to become mayor of Memphis. The person selected would serve until Sept. 1, 2010, when the person chosen by voters would take office.
Higgs has presided over many notable criminal cases, including the Forest Hill funeral home fraud case, which is ongoing.
The 72-year-old earned a law degree from University of Memphis law school.
His resume includes stints as a public defender, as a divorce referee, as a law school professor and even interim Shelby County Sheriff.
He's also pastor of Collins Chapel CME Church and hosts a radio show on WLOK.
In response to an application question about his financial affairs, Higgs wrote that he's been "approved for an installment agreement program with the IRS." He also mentioned that he faces general sessions court complaint filed by a bank and says his attorney is vigorously defending the case.
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Commissioner Steve Mulroy said he and Commissioner George Flinn both pushed to include a special election provision, but it was ultimately decided that it would not be worth the cost of special elections.
"We were unsuccessful in getting nine votes," said Mulroy, a University of Memphis law professor who is an expert on election law and voting rights. "I would be open to that though I have to acknowledge the counter argyment is that special elections are expensive and cumbersome and not worth the trouble for a few months. And you usually have an abysmal turnout so that a tiny, tiny percentage of the electorate is deciding it."
Joe Ford, one of the two leading candidates in today's 4 p.m. selection process (along with J.W. Gibson II), believes now it was a mistake not to take into account a situation where an interim mayor would serve for more than six months. He and Gibson both are claiming that various political alliances and ambitions among their colleagues are determining the vote as much as the central question of who is most qualified to serve as mayor.
"We probably made a mistake when we rewrote the charter," Ford said. "If we could revisit it, we probably would revisit it."
Yet, considering that the City of Memphis special election got only 25 percent turnout, if a countywide election were being held on, say, Dec. 1, can you imagine the election fatigue among voters?
]]>"There's one commissioner who as soon as he takes that vote, he's going across the street," Ford said Monday, adding that the commissioner he said is going to work at City Hall is Carpenter. "It was going to happen last Monday but the vote got all tied up and it just didn't happen."
Carpenter has been consistently denying there is any deal in place to become CAO, a post currently held by Jack Sammons. In the post below, it is certainly notable that Sammons says he is open to becoming a compromise candidate for candidate mayor should today's vote by the Commision (which meets at 4 p.m.) end in another stalemate between Ford and commissioner J.W. Gibson II.
"I have no formal offer for that, not from the mayor or the city," Carpenter said. "I don't really know what my future holds. As it stands today, I am still elected just like he is and can cast my vote and represent my district."
]]>Sammons confirmed that he had been contacted by Shelby County Commissioners as well as people outside the commission about standing as a candidate for county mayor, but insisted he felt it was premature to talk in detail about the possibility so long as "two qualified" commissioners (Joe Ford and J.W. Gibson II) remained standing as candidates.
But Sammons, who was appointed CAO by former Memphis Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery and awaits new mayor A C Wharton's decision on his fulltime CAO, did not run away from the idea.
"My attitude is until the internal contests have either been completed or exhaused I'm not interested in talking about it," Sammons said. "The Shelby County Commissioners have a leg up. They've lived county government and they have a better point of reference."
And here's where it's important to pay close attention: "But if they can't obtain the votes, then on that long list of alternative candidates, you could include my name."
Sammons is a Republican but has cultivated a reputation as a political maverick, often voting against his party and even, in the 1990s, running as an independent against Jim Rout for county mayor -- an act which came with punitive consequenes from his party. Sammons has won respect and credibility for his work as CAO, though it appears less likely with each day that passes that Wharton will retain him past the 90-day transition period.
Sammons has always been very accessible and candid with the press, so it is probably not fair to read too much into his comments, but certainly he sounded on Monday like someone open to the idea of landing a new job. He said he is proud of his reputation as someone who can work well with Democratic or Republican politicians and inner-city and suburban representatives.
"It's been my history of working with people on both sides of the aisle," Sammons said. "At this point I'm on this trip working on St. Jude (Classic) business, I'm not too actively involved in trying to secure this appointment."
He added that he would not seek to run in the 2010 countywide elections: "The sun has set on my days as an aspiring politician who would run in a countywide race. I have too much interest in staying married to pursue that."
]]>Higgs, 72, says that nobody has officially requested that he become a nominee, but made it clear he likes the idea. A lot.
"If someone did ask me to serve as mayor of Shelby County, it would be a fitting way for me to end my career," said Higgs, who has served 11 years as Division 2 judge and earlier in his career had been a Division 4 judge for five years.
Higgs was appointed interim sheriff in 1990 after county sheriff Jack Owens committed suicide and points out he has served county government in a number of other positions -- in the public defender's office, at The Regional Medical Center at Memphis, as a divorce referee, as criminal court clerk and as a member of a county charter commission.
"I have had so many positions with the county I can't remember them all," Higgs said.
Higgs said he had already planned to retire from the bench in September of 2010, and would not have a problem with leaving it early to manage the county for the remainder of former mayor A C Wharton's final term (Wharton, of course, resigned Oct. 26 after winning the City of Memphis's special election to succeed former mayor Willie Herenton).
"I'd be willing to accept that challenge," Higgs said. "To me it would be a matter of steering the county into smooth sailing for the next nine months."
Higgs ran for Memphis' mayoral post in 1975, 1979 and 1983, and in 1990 was the attorney who filed an ultimately successful lawsuit that challenged Memphis' runoff provisions in elections as racially discriminatory.
The two strongest candidates, Democrats J.W. Gibson and Joe Ford, continued to receive five votes each, two shy of the seven needed to be installed as interim county mayor, completing the final 10 months of new Memphis Mayor A C Wharton's final term.
Read the full story at commercialappeal.com.
]]>The nomination of Huntzicker did create a new dynamic, and he mustered three votes (from Deidre Malone, Matt Kuhn and George Flinn) before falling out. He took his nomination seriously and advocated for himself by pointing to what he called the success of the A C Wharton administration in tackling huge budget challenges.
That sparked a passionate response from Ford, who lambasted Huntzicker's management and the Wharton administration generally. "If you pick somebody from the former administration to guide ths county over next nine months you are headed toward disaster," Ford said.
But it did not change things.
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